You are festive.
Just like me.
Posted on 10/22/2006 10:37:57 AM PDT by DouglasKC
Halloween is undoubtedly one of the strangest holidays people celebrate, with its symbolism of witches, devils, skeletons, bats and black cats. Is it not a little bizarre that children are taught to dress up as ghosts and monsters to go from house to house demanding "trick or treat!" (with the threat of a trick or prank constituting a playful form of extortion)?
While tricks are no longer the norm in most places, it used to be common in many areas that refusal to give trick-or-treaters candy invited minor acts of vandalism, such as having one's windows marred with a bar of soap, trash dumped on the lawn, toilet paper unrolled across tree limbs, and raw eggs thrown against the house and car.
Where, how and when did such strange customs begin? And why do they continue?
Many parents encourage their children to celebrate Halloween, assuming it to be harmless and innocent fun. But why? Would parents honor this holiday if they knew what's behind it—behind the mask?
Halloween's origins
Few people really understand the origins of Halloween. However, many clues are obvious from the trappings of the holiday—witches, ghosts, jack-o'-lanterns, skeletons and the like.
History shows that behind the dark mask of this popular children's holiday reside the terrors of an ancient Celtic festival renamed All Hallows Eve. It was originally a holiday marking the mythical time when the dead supposedly rose from their graves to walk the earth.
To better understand the origins of Halloween one needs to be introduced to the ancient pagan festival of Samhain (usually pronounced sow-en).
In The Encyclopedia of Religion, under the heading "Halloween," the authors link Halloween to the eve of Samhain, "a celebration marking the beginning of winter as well as the first day of the New Year within the ancient Celtic culture of the British Isles."
This encyclopedia explains that "the time of Samhain comprised the eve of the feast and the day itself (31 October and 1 November). This event was a crucial seam in the social and religious fabric of the Celtic year, and the eve of Samhain set the tone for the annual celebration as a threatening, fantastic, mysterious rite of passage to a new year" (1987, p. 176).
Both the eve and day of Samhain were thought to be a time when the barriers between the human and supernatural worlds were broken, allowing passage between the two. "Other worldly entities, such as the souls of the dead, were able to visit earthly inhabitants, and humans could take the opportunity to penetrate the domains of the gods and supernatural creatures.
"Fiery tributes and sacrifices of animals, crops, and possibly human beings were made to appease supernatural powers that controlled the fertility of the land. Samhain acknowledged the entire spectrum of nonhuman forces that roamed the earth during that period" (ibid., p. 177).
The Encyclopedia of Religion then explains the origin of the bizarre customs that survive in today's Halloween: "Divination activities remained a popular practice. Adults, dressed in fantastic disguises and masks, imitated supernatural beings and visited homes where occupants would offer tributes of food and drink to them. A fear of nocturnal creatures, such as bats and owls, persisted, since these animals were believed to communicate with the spirits of the dead" (emphasis added).
Halloween comes to the New World
Centuries later, Irish and Scottish immigrants brought the custom of Halloween with them to the New World. After massive immigration of the Irish to the United States during the great potato famine in Ireland (1845-46), Halloween eventually became a national event.
Today, says The Encyclopedia of Religion, "modern Halloween activities have centered on mischief making and masquerading in costumes, often resembling otherworldly characters. Folk customs, now treated as games (such as bobbing for apples), have continued from the various divination practices of the ancient celebrants of this occasion. Supernatural figures (such as the ghost, the witch, the vampire, the devil) play a key role in supplying an aura of the mysterious to the evening, whether or not they originally had an association with the festival.
"Children are particularly susceptible to the imagery of Halloween, as can be seen in their fascination with the demonic likeness of a carved and illuminated pumpkin, known as the jack-o'-lantern. In recent times, children have taken up the practice of dressing in Halloween costumes and visiting homes in search of edible and monetary treats, lightly threatening to play a trick on the owner if a treat is not produced . . .
"There also has been renewed interest in Halloween as a time when adults can also cross cultural boundaries and shed their identities by indulging in an uninhibited evening of frivolity. Thus, the basic Celtic quality of the festival as an evening of annual escape from normal realities and expectations has remained into the twentieth century" (p. 177).
God unmasks Halloween
Does the Bible have anything to say about strange customs and holidays such as this? In fact, it does—and none of it is good.
While God's Holy Days in the Bible celebrate the role of Jesus Christ in bringing mankind to salvation in the eternal family of God (as explained in the following article and our free booklet God's Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind), Halloween is a celebration of the opposite—of demonism, witchcraft, death and evil spirits.
God's Word makes it clear that no one should dare entertain witchcraft or act as a sorcerer. "There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD" (Deuteronomy 18:10-11, emphasis added throughout).
God pronounced death on any Israelites who would dare dally with demonism or Satanism: "A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them" (Leviticus 20:27). "You shall not permit a sorceress to live" (Exodus 22:18).
Why such a harsh penalty? God did not want such perverted, demonic practices to spread among His people and corrupt others. "But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst" (Deuteronomy 13:5).
Would God be against something as harmless as Halloween, especially since it allows children to have fun and enjoy a little entertainment? Can't we let them have a little harmless fun?
Frankly, Halloween is anything but harmless. It focuses one's attention on witchcraft and demonism, which flies in the face of the holy God Almighty! When parents not only allow but also encourage their children to celebrate witches and goblins, they are teaching them that it's acceptable to deal in demonism.
And we have seen what God thinks of that. God is a God of light and truth (1 John 1:5). Satan, "the god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), is a very real being—a being of darkness, deception and death (Revelation 12:9; John 8:44). We are to have nothing to do with his ways. (To learn more, request our free booklet Is There Really a Devil?)
Do not assume that Halloween is a harmless holiday. God hates mankind's dabbling in the spirit world of Satan and his demons!
If there were no other reason available, that should be enough. But there are more reasons. Halloween keeps humankind, and many Christians, confused, disoriented and separated from the one and only true God.
God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). Nor is He the author of Halloween or any other "Christianized" pagan holidays (Amos 5:21). Why would the only true God who loves mankind support any worldly holiday that blinds human beings to Him and His truth and that holds men, women and children captive to deception?
What does God expect from you on Halloween?
You now know what lurks behind Halloween's mask: Satan the devil! God will one day unmask the ritual and tradition of Halloween to all people (Hebrews 8:10-11).
If you believe that God exists and you understand that He is highly offended by the holidays designed and perpetuated by the god of this age, then you have a choice: whether you will begin honoring God the way He expects to be honored and be blessed for doing it, or whether you will ignore the truth revealed in history and His Word. Don't wait!
God is not a god of masks, but a God of truth. God says that if you honor Him, He will honor you (1 Samuel 2:30). Ignore God and He will leave you subject to the god of this world and all that entails. God expects all who love and honor Him to repent from dead works and turn in faith toward Him, the only true God. GN
i consider most of the holdays we celebrate as a culture to be secular, so you'd still consider that bad? So no Festivus?
Nope. Just was an interesting read. That's all. I have not researched him or his work to be able to form an opinion.
I find it strangely comforting that a poster who inexplicably referred to me as a "RIAA Nazi" feels it necessary to defend himself on the basis that another poster has suggested you are in alliance with Satanists.
Well, at least you felt strongly enough to address this thread in the first place. What's next? The evils of Memorial Day?
KKK outfits with real, dead Jews on leashes dragged behind.
Fake napalm burns?
Real napalm burns, inflicted on those who do not give enough candy.
I think that Festivus would be acceptable. :-)
It has no pagan origins...i.e. it was never designed to honor or appease pagan gods or occult practices.
It certainly explains alot about his motivations for the role he later played, doesn't it?
Bump to Laz's fun-filled Halloween suggestions.
For all your OT Leviticus only pronouncements, you are skating close to blasphemy here are you not? At least leave the name of the Lord out of it.
As one of his targets of humor, I thought it was pretty creative. It misrepresented my position but it was imaginative and creative. I hadn't considered blasphemy...
You are festive.
Just like me.
I'm sure you get the point. If Christians believe that God sanctions participating in Halloween rituals, then they shouldn't be offended by this. After all, they're ultimately making the claim that this is how Christ and the apostles would have acted. Sure, I injected some humor into it, but I did it to point out just how absurd it is, from a biblical standpoint, that Christ and the apostles would ever do anything like that.
As I see it, what's absurd is your equating Christian parents letting their kids dress up and go house-to-house with sacrificing to devils. And then in your humorous misrepresentation of everything I (and perhaps others) said, you add the twist of the Apostles dressing up and going house to house, not children. I realize we're not going to agree but please try to correctly present the views of those who disagree with you.
What? You think it would be more accurate if the apostles made their children emulate pagan ceremonies? To think that Jesus Christ, in biblical times, would stand for anyone to imitate pagan customs is stll an absurd notion. There's a reason this stuff doesn't appear in the bible. They never would have done it. They had their own holy days, given by God, to observe. Of course, tradition and culture has taught many today that it's "okay" to ignore these and to instead observe the same days as pagans.
Are you still contending that Easter, for example, is a pagan holiday?
You are, again, misrepresenting what I've said. Because you are not God you cannot know the intent of Christian parents letting their children dress up and go house-to-house. Therefore, you cannot state the parents nor the children are sacrificing to devils.
He doesn't celebrate Easter. Checkout post 103.
Halloween, Christmas, Easter and more...
Samhain, the Winter Solstice, Beltain - the list goes on and on.
Me, I like holiday's. Even some of those that where celebrated by my ancestors who were ignorant of the Lord. I like the new meanings better than the old sometimes too.
God created specific, certain, holy days.
It says this in the bible.
Jesus Christ, being God, created specific, certain, holy days.
Again, it's in the bible. Jesus Christ observed these specific, certain, holy days.
It's in the bible.
As Christians, we are to follow the example of our Lord. Easter is not one of the days that Jesus Christ created. It is not in the bible and nobody in the bible celebrated it. It is celebrated by custom and tradition. The trappings of Easter, eggs, bunnies and whatnot, all have their orgins in pagan worship. Like Halloween, it is a mixture of the sacred and the profane, something that scripture warns us about.
I was once in Zarragoza Spain during the Easter holiday. I walk out of a shop and see about 400 men dressed in KKK style outfits made of the most brilliant colors. Scared the hell out of me, all those cloaked figures in pastel - If it wasn't for the death music I might have though NAMBLA had gone militant.
It is in the bible, and Jesus Christ created it. Perhaps you better read the OT a little closer. It was impossible to celebrate before Jesus arose from the dead, so it was alluded to by the prophets. Let us know when you know where it's found.
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